Horizon, the world ship, the greatest feat of modern engineering in the galaxy, and the pride and joy of the Alliance. The largest world-class ship ever conceived and it was in the heart of Alliance territory for their use. It was here you found the figureheads for the Alliance, politically, militarily, culturally, and economically. It was also the most defended part of Alliance territory, especially nowadays. The Kryslin had returned yet again to bring terror and destruction to the galaxy at large. And while they were beaten back, they had caused ore devestation than ever before. All the factions of the galaxies had lost many planets, colonies, and stations that were under their control. The ones hit the hardest were the Bulor, who had lost their cloaked homeworld and their empress who had tried to improve relations with the other races, now radicalized by a new oppressive regime to undo her work. Even the Alliance was hit hard, with half their military wiped out since they had even tried to help defend the worlds of the other factions. Their territories were greatly reduced, and they had even almost lost Horizon itself to a large Kryslin invasion. Even though months have passed since the resurgence, the corpses of the giant tentacled bastards floated in the space aroudn Horizon...reminding the Alliance that danger and evil is never truly defeated...only held back. People have tried to continue on with their lives here. Majority of the population were consisted of Alliance races, but there was a sizable portion that were of the Fringe races. All of them were worried about families and friends out in the galaxy, even worried about their own place. There were several refugee camps inside the world ship and even around the world ship, survivors with horror stories about what they had witnessed during the Third Kryslin War as it is now. What they didn't know, was of the military's newest top secret project to help the galaxy heal. The Fringe Rapid Strike Teams (FRSTs), or as the people in the military called the lucky recruits to be choosen for it "Firsts". It has been a week since the graduation ceremony of the latest batch of recruits and the first day these Firsts were going to be implemented. Hopefully, they will become a part of a new era of healing for the galaxy...but that was solely in their hands. The Firsts we will be watching in action were just about to arrive to their ship. They were allowed a week to prepare and say goodbye to any family or friends they cared to. They could not tell them what they were assigned to do and what their assignments entailed, they might even lied if they wanted to. But this was a fate that could never be shared to anyone. Strictly need to know only. The ship they were assigned to was designated "The Nova Striker". It was a retrofitted Troop Transport corvette with thicker hull, faster engines, more firepower, and the insides gutted out and replaced with internals fitting for a small specialized crew rather than a military standard strike force of about forty souls. They had took the group composition in mind and found that this was more fitting. Even though it stilled looked like a junker fresh from a scrap yard. They were instructed to find this ship and enter it. Then they would have to go to the canteen and wait there for a debreifing from their Alliance contact and get introduced to each other. It was going to be with this meeting they would receive their first assignment and begin work to serve the Alliance.
"Yoo-hoo! Anybody here? Sorry I'm late, I got all tied up saying goodbye to - " "... Hello?" ... "Huh. Must be at the cantina. Or if I'm lucky even later than me. Come on, Zexy." Lana clicks opens a scanner-shielded box, uncovering a medium gray ball, painted to reduce any metallic shine. Pressing a button it whirs to life, lifting itself out of its hiding place, hovering, and several sensory antennae extend from its circular body. A lens points to Lana. "Hi, boy." Lana gives the hovering sphere a kiss before the grey-human hybrid's eyes glaze as she accesses her internal computer. "Do a little scan for me, Cutie. This is home now. First come first serve. Let's map this piece of junk out and find the biggest room - stake our claim... Biggest... or maybe the one closest to the showers. Hmm..." Lana struts off, butt swaying, luggage in tow, mapping the ship.
Zkra'Krix stepped onto the ship. She hadn't had anyone to say goodbye too, there was no-one she knew or cared about amongst the Zax population of Horizon, but she'd stayed a little while in the restaurant district. It would be a long time until she got to eat something besides rations, after all, so she'd decided to give Horizon, and her favourite restaurant, a sendoff in the form of a full meal. It had taken a fair chunk out of her account, but it had been worth it. She headed up into the canteen and dropped her bag (containing her guns, sword and armour) on one of the tables. Huh, she was the first one here. “Biggest... or maybe the one closest to the showers. Hmm..." Or not.
Tisha shrugged her right shoulder, adjusting the large duffel bag she had slung across that shoulder as she unwrapped a lollipop and popped it into her mouth as the ship, and her new home for the time being, came into view. Where ever she went she always made sure she had a stash of her favorite flavors on her somewhere. The young marine trudged up the boarding ramp and banged against the bulkhead once she was on board, calling out "Hello? Anyone else here?" she called out. She paused for a moment listening for a response before heading deeper into the ship towards where it sounded like there might be some activity going on.
"Hello? Anyone else here?" Zkra'Krix heard the call from the ship's doorway. "Yeah! Sure! I'm in the canteen, and there's someone else kicking around who-knows-where. Anyone, come to the canteen!" She shouted back.
*Clunk* Something big and heavy hits the... *Lana's eyes glaze over as she accesses the ship layout Zexy has created* Chairs... Bar... Must have been the canteen. Lana wasn't alone after all. Someone just dropped off their stuff in the canteen. She could greet them but... Room first. Lanalaro quiets her footsteps, but doesn't bother with her stealth system. Yet. Keeping that in reserve might be fun later - when she figures out her new shipmate's shower times, for example. At that thought Lana makes up her mind - biggest, smallest, whatever room was nearest the shower would be first priority. She doesnt need much space anyway. "Hello? Anyone else here?" A female voice... Female... Ah, fuck it. Lana quickly locates a quarters nearest the bathroom and throws her luggage inside. Lana moves to more important things - touching up her hair, adjusting her clothing, getting herself in place. That, and settling Zexy in his half open casing, ostensibly in sleep mode, but with a spy lens angled just a little towards the bathroom. "Good boy," Lana gives the bot a little pat and moves towards the canteen to meet the arrivals.
As far as people in the ship was concerned, they were only able to tell that there was the three of them. No other activity was detected and the ship seemed to be in serviceable order. More than serviceable, actually. Althought it looked like a rust bucket, it was quite obvious to the tech specialist crew that the ship ran at peak effeciency, within Alliance regulations. The layout of the former troop transport was very simple. The hold area that doubled for cargo and troop drops stayed marginally the same at the very bottom of the ship, below where they are now. The second floor had a lot of what you would find on a troop transport but modified to fit the crew. A reduced canteen and kitchen to not be as big, and some of it used to expand the other facilities. While the toilets were gender separated, the showers were communal. There was also an onboard gym so the crew can work out if they needed to. There was also a special workshop for tech tinkering, to keep their skills and knowledge sharp. The only other feature that was present was a shooting range. Then above them was the rooms. Typically it would be barracks style bunks stacked on each other. But they were gutted and replaced with actual quarters. There was even room for an expanded medical ward. The final room up there was the cockpit where they could fly the ship, ensure everything was working properly, and man the weapon systems. The canteen itself wasn't too much to look at. It was mostly just one large table and some stuff to fool around with. Mostly those new game stands one would find decorating an intergalactic casino. There was also a bar against the wall separating it and the kitchen with only a door nearby. One can assume that's where one would go to get their food once it was done. Once all three women were in the canteen and had gotten settled, two new parties had entered the room. One was quite like them...except a little bit..off? It was a woman in extremely casual wear and looked to be one of those frosty plant people the Varnak. However, her eyes gave it all away...synthetic, and she had a slightly stylized plastic look to her. This was an android, and she dressed like an absolute whore. Mostly bikinii wear and booty-shorts with fishnet stockings, tie on bikinii thong panties visible,, and combat boots. The other figure however was different. Standing close to six feet tall, muscular, and with obvious mechanical arms and legs was a tanned, black haired, and green eyed human man. His face was relatively charming and dominant, with only just a touch of a carefree smile hanging at the corner of his lips, though...he did have a rather nasty scar cutting through his visage. He was fortunate it didn't cause any nerve damage or damage any of his sensory organs, though it did look rather painful. His hair was cut short and his face cleanshaven. Typical fashion for military. However, he was dressed in simple work boots, flight easy work pants with safety suspenders, and a dark grey muscle shirt that showed off his fit chest and synthetic arms. He waved to the girls as he walked in to sit by them while the Varnak whorebot walked to the front of them. The man had a couple of rather large containers. The Varnak smiled to all of them and began speaking as if she was reciting from a script in a sultry, chipper voice, "Greetings and salutations, recruits of one of the first ever Fringe Rapid Strike Teams. You may call me Aeva, and welcome to The Nova Striker, a Goz hunter squad deployment vessel retrofitted to look like a common salvaged ship out in Fringe space, fitted to the requirements needed to house your team. In this room right now are your squadmates, learn to depend on each other. I will act as your liason to the officers places in charge of your team. However, should the vessel be captured, crew terminated or missing, or in a situation otherwise deemed too far beyond rescue, all my memories, data storage, and key software shall be terminated...reducing me 50/50 to a basic whore bot or an empty shell. It is to be reiterated that under no circumstances anyone should know that we serve the Alliance." Despite talking about its own death or labotomy, the Android kept talking in that chipper voice as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. It had quickly continued its function, "Now, before we begin with introductions, debriefing, rereading of Alliance Standard War Ethics, and assignment of first mission...are there any questions anyone would like to ask?"
Lana managed after a moment to rip her eyes away from the scantily-clad not-quite-whorebot's very interesting anatomy. Ogling could come later. Ogling, and finding out how else the android might serve besides as a liaison... or precisely *as* a liaison... Maybe paired with one of the other - Dammit, Laney, focus! Laney cleared her throat, signalling her intention to speak. "So... we're not Alliance." Lana looked around the room, meeting the eyes of the crew. "But nobody's told us - what are our identities, then? And what about our previous identities, our Alliance records, on-file biometrics? Have they been wiped or replaced?"
"I second her question, especially since I'm quite recognisably Alliance. Zax on the fringe are associated with Alliance gunships, after all, and queens even more so."
Tisha kept her duffel bag slung over her shoulder as she crossed her arms over her impressively sized chest, the marine was pretty stacked. She wore a tight fitting white tank top and a pair of mini shorts. Her brown hair was cut into a slight bob, undercut over her right ear but elsewhere flirting with being too long for marine regulations. She shifted the lollipop stick from one side of her mouth as she looked over her new squad mates, raising an eyebrow when the whorebot and man appeared. For the most part she listened to the introduction given by the varnakbot, but that outfit was pretty distracting. When the floor was open for questions she raised her hand "Ma'am I wasn't given much time to pack, just told to leave my uniforms behind and wear civvies. Will we be getting scheduled resupply or are we going to have to make do with whatever we can scavenge out here?"
The Varnak bot kept silent while everyone was voicing their quesitons. She gave a look over to the man who just shrugged his shoulders and made a motion to signal her to go on with it. It seemed he didn't have anything to ask of her. With that, the liason whorebot remained silent, cycling through her memory banks for the correct answers to all of their questios that were within her limits to answer. It would take a minute before she got to the action. "Please note, recruits, that whiel I am a liason, I am only allowed clearances fitting of a leading officer and do not have much information that isn't classified. I am, however, at liberty to tell you that all Alliance records of your being are documented in a secure location. And, much like my termination, should anything were to happen to any of you, these records would be wiped clean and forgotten. The Alliance is ready to disown any and all failures to keep these operations secret. And one should not fret of being mistaken for Alliance, for there are plenty of beings out in the great big void of space that defy stereotypes...including Zax." She then looked to Tisha, "We have an on-station AI wired into the chasis of another physical hardware unit, much like myself. While I will be a liason to Alliance command for you all to receive your missions and briefings, she will be your provided of supplies and gear. Connected to her chasis is a state of the art experimental delivery system, using a combination of remote 3D printing and warp using psionic-based teleportation technology. For things this system cannot accomodate, the other unit is in position of a credit chit for official military use only. She will record everything bought and sought, and she can happily get things for you, though you will need to convince her that whatever it is you need is important. Other wise, you are free to use these." She held out a hand and her arm opened up, showing a row of plastic cards, "These are credit chits with anonymous links to a proxy-account managed by the Alliance government. Every month you will receive your paycheck so you may purchase things yourself, if you wish." As she went around to give people their credit chits, the Varnak bot spoke again, "Now...is there anymore questions? Do ask them quickly, for our alloated time for them is running out, we do have duties to attend to, recruits."
"I have no further questions. I still have concerns, but they can be worked around." Zkra'Krix replied to the bot, taking her credit chit.
"No official cover, huh? Good, I don't like being micromanaged anyway. We can, ah, work all those delicate little parts out together." *Lana flashes a grin, and somehow stops herself from looking for reactions to her suggestive tone long enough to take the credit chit*
Tisha took the credit chit in her hand and turned it over "Alliance covers our equipment expenses, these are for our regular pay which we can use for whatever we want." she nodded and pocketed the chit "Works for me."
The Varnak whorebot nodded as everyone agreed to no further questions and took their chits. Once that was done, she backed away from the group, "Excellent. Now, I shall hand the rest of this meeting over to your squad leader to complete the debrief." The liason nodded her head to the man who started to stand up. As he made his way to the front, the nadroid backed off. Sighing to himself, he let his articifical hands go through his short hair as he prepared himself. He then cleared his throat and crossed his arms behind his back, "Alright...ladies. Welcome aboard the Nove Striker, this place will be our home away from home while we're out doing covert missions in the Fringe. We all will have time to get to know each other, but my name is Adam Mercer and I will be your commanding officer, seconded only by our liason who represents the top brass of the Alliance." Everyone's computers gave a notification sound to alert everyone. Once checked, it would be obvious that this was the Alliance Military Code of Ethics. Adamn nodded, "Alright. Once I verbally read off the Code of Ethics, we will go through mission debrief, and yes we already have our first mission. Now please follow along so we can get this over with." Hopefully with everyone following along, Adam started to read, "As a member of the Alliance of Horizon military, the individual currently holding this one time use digital codex understand and consent to adhere to the following rules and regulations, as dictated by the top most authority of the Alliance. Failure to adhere to said regulations can, and will, result in a tribunal by the individual's superiors and carry significant reprimands. Reprimands such as restrictions of pay, limits of shoreleave hours, fines, dishonorable discharges, imprisonments, and even execution depending on the severity of the crime. These regulations that must be adhered to are as follows: 1) Fraturnization. No personnel of the enlisted ranks or the officer, or acting officer, ranks are allowed to place themselves in intimate settings. 2) Strict drug policies. Absolutely no use of addictive narcotics of any kind, unless prescribed, and only allowed the bare minimum intake of alcoholic beverages. 3) Humane treatment of combatants and non combatants. No killing civilians nor execution of surrending enemies; capturing is the preferred method. 4) Treatment of prisoners of war. In case of captured enemies, they must be placed in holding cells and constantly monitored, but no torture. 5) Soldier's respect. Absolutely no cruel termination of active hostiles nor any attempts of claiming trophies from fallen hostiles. 6) Looting regulations. While one is allowed to loot bodies for useful equipment and supplies, all loot must be cataloged by quartermaster. 7) Standards of government property. All means of acquisition through offical military channels must not be used for personal gain. 8) Theft. No stealing official military acquisitions, nor using them without quartermaster's knowledge and consent. 9) Insubordination. All orders from the top are absolute and to be followed to the lettter. Disobediance will not be tolerated. 10) Battle Standards. Once in a firefight or in a mission field, no retreats or actions done without permission from leaders. Commit these to memory, save it to somewhere if you have to. These are divine law in the military and they will be adhered to. If there are any questions regarding this codex, please save them while I give the mission debrief." He stepped back a bit more, pressed some buttons on his computer and a hologram showed in the middle of the room. It showed a planetary system of a large forest world with some space stations floating around it. One of the space stations was circled that was in orbit around the planet. He pointed to this space station. "Well be coming here, Albatross Alpha. The rest of our team will be there. They are separated from us thanks to one being a volunteer civilian and the other...well, the other was a special academy designed to bring troubled youth into the fold. They will meet us there. And while we meet up, we'll also be meeting our "contractor"." The hologram changed from the planetary system to a 3D model of a Canid Assault Leader. The wolf-man was clad in battle ready armor with steel claws covering his regular claws. "This is our contact. He hired us through a proxy that the Alliance Military uses to keep us Firsts on the job. We'll be undercover as our soon to be usual common mercenary facade. The Junker's Union has claimed this planet for its natural resources since before the Kryslin Resurgence and managed to keep it, but are now under heavy fire by the Kitsune Imperial Legion. They have been aggressive as of late and the Union are getting desparate. As we all know, those that make up the Junker's Union are the wolfish Canids, the brutish Orocu, and of course the cousins of the Zax...the Zasarians. The Goz have some scrupels with the Canids which caused some debates, however it took a miracle and a half to get the Zax to want to give the Zasarians a hand. But, it was agreed that it would be beneficial to curb the Kitsune's expansion as much as possible and give the Union a break." He gave Zkra'Krix a look first before continuing the brief, "Brass has insured that we won't be doing anything too complicated for our first run. The Union has been hiring mercenaries enmasse for various missions. We have been negotiated for a sabotage mission." The hologram went back to the planetary system. The circle disappeared from the station and an arrow appeared pointing at a decent sized lake on the west side of the planet, "There is an Imperial camp here. It is moderately mortified with some of the Kitsune's basic troops and some Tanuki supports corps so as to not draw attention. It is a stopping point for some supply lines as well as a position that bounces Imperial messages. We are to go there, destroy the communication dishes, and render all vehicles in the depot inoperable. Brass have also said we could receive bonuses if we happen to find any intelligence of the Kitsune Empire's acitivites while at this base, or even capture the senior officer in charge of the camp. But those are secondary." The hologram then disappeared and Adam looked to everyone, "Any questions or concerns about the mission as well as the Codes of Ethics?"
'Blah blah blah, Alliance blah blah, don't go crazy.' ... "We all will have time to get to know each other, but my name is Adam Mercer and I will be your commanding officer, seconded only by our liason who represents the top brass of the Alliance." *Lana listens raptly to her new commanding officer's words, paying great attention to his presence, his tight fitting uniform, and then paying further attention once the alliance jargon she'd heard a dozen times before was complete and the mission was outlined.* Hot officer taking charge, serious mission to be completed. Lana is on board with both.
"With fraternitization I have a theoretical - I stress theoretical - question. Is this 'no liasons between officers and troopers' or 'no liasons between personnel of any rank'. Also, I'd like to emphasise that I'm only taking part in this mission because it is a requirement of a trooper. I'd rather stay clear of this conflict entirely, but, well, it's the Army."
"I'm surprised they placed fraternization so high on the list." she said, scrolling up and down the list until she was sure she had it all. She looked over to her new squadmate "It almost sounds like nothing intimate at all, even with someone who's not military. They got some pretty strict rules on us here for this assignment. " Tisha looked back at her mission briefing and pulled her lollipop out from between her lips "Question, do we need to destroy these communication dishes quietly or can we blow em if we have to?"
